The Grove
by JCThemadman
Summary: In harry's life, there is only one place he can feel calm, The Grove... Modern AU take on HTTYD Rated T for reasons.
1. School

"Harry Come on! We're going to be late for school AGAIN!" the frustrated girl yelled waking up a groggily sleeping boy.

"Seriously Astrid, I told you if I'm not awake just give me a shove. No need to shout." He said rather quietly while cupping a hand around his ear, wincing.

"Well we should go anyways. If we're late again, Mr Johnson is gonna go insane." She profusely stated.

Once the boy was dressed he admired himself in the mirror. He was quite scrawny and had auburn coloured hair, not the tallest of people he knew but certainly wasn't the smallest. "Hey." Said the girl he had secretly fallen head over heels for.

"OW! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" he shouted as she threw a playful punch to his arm.

"HEY YOU LITTLE HICCUP COME ON! WE GOTTA GO!" said the boy's cousin. His cousin was a brawny jock among the students, his popularity through the roof but his intelligence still on the floor.

"Ugh." She disgustedly shivered, whilst holding back 3 days' worth of puke."I still can't believe I dated him for a month."

"Yeah I know. Well c'mon. Let's go." He said playfully pushing her through the door.

'Man, school is so easy its kinda boring.' thought harry as he was noting down numbers and easy Maths answers, falling asleep to the teacher's monotonous voice.

'Man, school is kinda hard at GCSE' thought the usually cheerful girl as she sighed in the maths lesson she shared with Stephen and Harry. She hated Stephen.

"Hey Hiccup you little runt." Stephen said disregarding the teacher, "you're a nerd!" he exclaimed as the class laughed. Harry's face turned a bright shade of scarlet as he retaliated back finally having enough of Stephen's puns and Jokes, screaming at the top of his lungs, he yelled "Yeah, well you deserved to die with your parents!"

Stephen was astonished at this because Harry had never once made fun of his parents. Or retaliated. They had died when Stephen was just 5 years old in a hit and run accident because of a man who robbed a local store.

"YOU ARE DEAD KID. YOU HEAR ME?!" Stephen roared to the quiet scrawny boy seething as he rampaged out of the classroom slamming the door as he left. 'Aaaand I'm totally screwed' thought harry as Alice was looking toward him worried...

After the class Alice and Harry walked the five miles home instead of taking the bus where Stephen would have been. "You know you are going to have to face him tomorrow right?" she said using all her courage to muster up talking to him "He even said to everyone in the canteen, I'm going to kill Harry tomorrow'." She imitated Stephen with a very mocking, deep-tone, worry gleaming in her eyes.

"Oh well. I guess that's going to be it then…"

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Thanks for reading, Tell me what you think, be honest, and BTW the whole GCSE thing means it's kinda based in the UK.

also, sorry for the constant switching between alice and astrid. Astrid is the nickname "Stephen" and "Harry" give here, while Stoick and her other friends call her alice.

it took me a long ass time to think of this, and i'd like to thank Foxy'sGirl and shadowsteel18 for inspiring me to write fanfics =)

i'll explain more on Alice/ Astrid in Chapter 3.


	2. Notice

Just a quick note readers, I'm sorry to announce that the USB I keep my story on has broken and I am waiting for my friend WezzaHD to re-email me the copy I first emailed him, so the story will be delayed for a while. I didn't want my USb to break and within that I also have to re-do a lot of coursework. I'm gonna be very busy so I might not be able to fetch time for the story.

Sorry about this

~JC


	3. Resolved conflicts

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ok guys, sorry it's been a rough couple weeks, but here's chapter 2. it's very short because it's really just ch2 and next is like uhh... ch2.5? but i gotta admit, i had been advised by WezzaHD to split it, basically avoid rushing things. Thanks Wezza :3

The next day, as Harry, Alice and Stephen were in the playground in their school Stephen was in a corner, without his friends. Just in a corner, alone. Harry tried to muster up some courage to fight him then, he decided that a peaceful talk would be better.

"Hey Stephen?" he queried thinking that his cousin was going to Rampage.

"What do you want kid? You've embarrassed me enough as it is." He said with an awkward depressed tone.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean any of it and I just got really annoyed to the point where I'd snapped." He apologized feeling sorrier for his cousin than he'd expeced he would.

"No problem, the fight is off anyway," "Oh! yeah, before I forget, your dad has the milk tanker being filled for delivery tonight. You wanna fill it with me?" he asked gleefully, like a puppy waiting to play.

"Sure. I'd love to."

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As they walked home, Hiccup, Astrid and Snotlout didn't fight, just spoke. But Hiccup modest as usual revealed something which sparked him to react rather oddly.

"Seriously Astrid? I can barely stand up to my own cousin, I'm called a nerd at school and I'm too scared to admit I have a crush on y-," "Crap." he dead-panned as he ran off into the nearby woods.

"Well I guess I'm filling the tanker alone then." Stephen mumbled shuffling his feet disappointedly as Alice yelled, running for him to come back.

Meanwhile, Harry was running fast as he could back toward one place nobody had known...

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well, looks like something is taking a turn for the worse.

where is hiccup (harry) running?

will Astrid(Alice) find him?

find out, next time in, the grove...

P.S. Thanks for re-emailing me the grove WezzaHD, without your help, and a back up, i woulda had to put this on hiatus. and i don't wanna do that. EVER.


	4. Chapter 3: harry's secret

Hey Guys, Sorry the last chapter was so short. i did not mean for it to be but it's only up to Chapter 2.5 or Chapter 3 which I'm renaming this chapter.

so without further ado, and i know you're probably hinking "GET ON WITH IT" so, let's go :3

oh and one more thing, i'm gonna TRY to make my chapters longer, but you gotta remember, this is my first story. this chapter is out fast because 3 you guys =)

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previously in, the grove...

Harry tried to muster up some courage to fight him

"Seriously Astrid? I can barely stand up to my own cousin, I'm called a nerd at school and I'm too scared to admit I have a crush on y-,"

Meanwhile, Harry was running fast as he could back toward one place nobody had known...

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Meanwhile, Harry was running fast as he could back toward one place nobody had known. An old grove about half a mile from the farm and full of tamed wild animals.

"Hey Toothless." The boy said patting the wolf on the head as it ran up to him gleefully wagging its tail.

"WOOF!" the dog barked, gathering the other animals toward the boy and his companion.

As Harry drew out a large stick from behind his back, the wolf and the stray greyhound he befriended immediately started to bark with glee, jumping and hoping for the boy to throw the stick as he teased them trying to predict his movements.

"Harry?" "Harry?" Alice shouted hoping to find Harry somewhere. "WHERE ARE YOU?" she shouted once again but with more voice.

"Stay here boys." Harry said to the dog and the wolf as he exited the had seen her and closed, locked and hidden the door to the grove behind its distinctive age-old vine just as she saw him.

"Oh harry, I was worried. Why did you run away?"

"You know what?" He said seriously, "I finally have the courage to tell you where I've been is a place I've been going to for about 7 years now. I'll show you what's behind this locked door but only if you swear you'll tell nobody." He meekly said, hoping she'd not run.

"Okay Fine, I won't tell anyone, but wait what is this place?, where are we?" his vixen-like friend queried as he fiddled with the lock, he'd so desperately enhanced to keep people out.

The door opened and she stepped in with him. "This. Is the Grove." Harry said waving his arm in a wide arc.

The grove was filled with animals, wild, stray, tame abandoned. All in harmony, deer and wolves, Snakes and rabbits, even cats and birds.

"Wow…" "Wait a second. This is what you found when you ran away for a week?" she asked, "AAH!" she suddenly Shrieked as Toothless jumped on her and started to growl.

"No Toothless! She's a friend." He said calmly immediately eliminating the frustrated wolf's threat, switching from his anger to intently starting to lick her stating his new-found friendship, as Astrid Squealed.

"All the animals here are strays or wild. I tamed them all and they are my friends, tell my father and there'll be venison before you can say the words; Barbecued Deer." He whispered hoping the deer would not hear him as he said it.

"Look harry we should get back. Your father wants you to help him deliver the milk." She said, changing the subject, trying to get to the bright side of things

"And one more thing," she said "I like you too Harry." She admitted as she kissed his cheek. When she pulled away he saw her cheeks were blushing furiously, as were his.

"Harry?" "You look like a sea bass." she giggled, oh so beautifully for him to hear, while she held his hand..

He stared with his mouth agape in shock, as they walked back home…

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so, what do you think? tell me in a review if you so choose, follow and favourite, if there's anything you think I should change I will consider, and thanks for reading guys and girls. :3

p.s. i hate rushing, but as blunt as i have to be, this was how i wrote the chapter. I'm sowwy

Yours

~JC


	5. Delivery Day

sorry, it's a little late, i was expecting to upload a couple days ago, but I've been way too busy.

in this chapter it's ALL Stoick's POV. so that means

Hiccup = Harry

Snotlout = Steven

Astrid = Alice.

have a good read =)

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The next day, Hiccup and Stoick left the farm early, to deliver milk, as Hiccup left Astrid to take care of the grove. She answered with great enthusiasm and went straight to the grove to pet toothless. Meanwhile, Hiccup and Stoick that afternoon were starting their way back from the Delivery station.

"Son, you are nearly of age now, would you like to take over the farm when you turn 18?" I asked, feeling more generous than usual.

"No dad, I don't wanna own the farm now, maybe when I'm like 22 or something" he answered me with a slight cheeky tone in his voice.

"Hmm" I thought that was oddly specific for somebody so young. Then and again, six years was long enough for college and first year university, so he could be learning in his spare time, while doing university work.

"Son, you have to take over some time, and if I show you the ropes early, maybe you'll be ready for it better" I tested once again, hoping he would say yes. "I mean, since… well, you know, we do need another farm boss to help me with paperwork and sales." I tried not to recall the events with my wife's divorce, hiccup was quite young and he didn't want her to go, but she decided to get married to some idiotic man and left for Miami.

I could always tell Harry was disturbed by the man and that he wanted what was best for her, as did I.

"Dad," he started, "can we get another dog?"

I always admired his love for animals, but since our dog, Thor died, he was devastated and didn't want a pet since. That moment, I realised he'd moved on and finally grew out of his grief.

"Sure, we can get another dog." I answered with a happy tone, as not to disconcert my son and to hide me proud happiness. "What breed are you thinking of?"

"I was thinking a Large, Gray husky…" he suggested a husky… he knew I loved huskies as I owned one as a child, which died a year before he was born. Guess he loves huskies like his old man.

"Dad, can I ask you a question?" he asked

"You just did son." I mocked, while making for my sandwich as I refuelled the truck

"I mean a personal question." He stated sounding as stubborn as myself as a teen.

"What is it?"

"Have you ever seen a wolf on the farm?" well, he was definitely feeling curious today.

"Yes, I have but only once." I started to tell my story.

"I met the bugger while I was tending to the chickens. Poor bugger looked hungry and wasn't interested in my chickens. Odd he was, had no teeth and went to the pigsty. Started eating the pig feed." I laughed momentarily as did he, "I shooed him off, he was only a baby though, and I haven't seen him since…" I finished off slightly hazing my voice, as I reminisced over that moment.

"I think I saw a wolf around here, like you described, poor guy had no teeth." My son was never one to lie.

"Hmm, maybe it's the same wolf. You see him again, bring him down to the farm; maybe make a nice hat…"

"Dad! Seriously?! There isn't a point killing a defenceless animal. Well, maybe a pig…" it was like he knew where it was, like he was pleading upon its very survival. That's when I started to get suspicious.

"Son, do you know where that wolf is?" I had a tendency to ask questions seriously with a low demeanour, as to make them tell the truth. I didn't want my son or nephew to lie, but Harry being Harry…

"No I don't, I saw him several weeks ago; but that's it." He replied in a monotonous, yet stubborn voice. Typical Harry.

"I don't believe you son, show me whereabouts you last saw him." I still had the deadpan trick, I'd just say something in a monotonous voice and he'd answer truthfully, but I had a feeling he would start with it so I didn't use it that much now.

As my phone started to ring it broke the awkward. It was Alice, and she was asking where we were, no doubt worried about our well-being. I told her we'd be home in 10 minutes and I hung up. The rest of the journey was silent…

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oh that was all kinds of awkward...

thanks for reading =)

Rate and review, follow and favourite if you want to, and look out for next chapter, where we're gonna meet the rest of the gang =)

p.s. if you want me to add more Stoick into the story, don't hesitate to ask =)

any other ideas you want me to add or implement within i can consider, but nothing too dramatically changing that could affect the whole storyline

PM if you want to ask me about anything,

yours,

~JC

p.p.s. Thanks to the 400+ people who read this *heart sign here*


	6. Another Notice

due to my busy schedule, i've been unable to finish the latest chapter for the grove. don't worry it's still in progress. but i'm a little struck for ideas ATM. i'm getting my subplots list back from Wezza today so i guess i'll be able to finish part of this by a couple weeks tops. if possible.

sorry about this guys and girls, i just didn't want to leave you in the dark here.

the next chapter:

The Wolf and The Farm

will be up next week.

thanks for putting up with the wait guys

~JC


	7. Chapter 7

Welp, i'm so sorry i've been away for so long. Wezza knows himself as to why, but i'm unable to tell.

i'll try to get the next couple chapters out soon as possible.

but for you guys and gals,

here's the next chapter:

The Wolf And The Farm

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Back on the farm, Hiccup and Stoick were so tired from the delivery they went straight to bed without anything to eat at all. This slightly angered Astrid as she decided to make them a nice meal for dinner. (The reason she had enough time to make a meal was because of the traffic, which Stoick complained about as he walked up the stairs, Hiccup lugging his own weight behind)

"Fine; I'll put your dinner in the fridge and you can have it for lunch tomorrow." She pouted.

"I'm sorry Astrid; we're just really tired from the Drive back." Stoick reasoned with passion, and great exhaustion.

"I would have some, were it not for the fact that-"Hiccup's speech was interrupted and over-laced by a long yawn. "Sorry Astrid."

Astrid sighed and turned to put the food in the fridge, as Snotlout snuck in through the back door and into the kitchen.

"Hey Astrid, can I have something to eat? I'm Starving." He moaned, hoping for a response that sounded like 'yeah sure' but all he got was a punch to the stomach and a "Make your own you mooch."

As Astrid went to her room and to bed, Snotlout turned on the TV and started to watch a loud, horror based, movie which lasted until the following morning. Astrid however, hated when he done it so she decided to sneak into the Utility room and switch off the house's power. As she snuck into bed again, she could hear Snotlout grunt and moan when he couldn't fix the TV, and she slowly drifted off to sleep…

The Following morning Astrid woke up to Hiccup walking in with breakfast for her.

"Here you go Astrid, I brought you some breakfast." he said as he handed her the plate of Bacon and Eggs with toast "thanks" she replied as she took a bite into the delicious bacon.

"hey Astrid before I forget," he started, hoping for her to listen. But rather than listen, she said something that he would never have expected her to guess…

"Hiccup, I know you're thinking of bringing Toothless back, but I just don't think its right. He'll probably be killed if you do. You know what your father is like…" Snotlout had heard what she said as he walked by and that was all he needed to hear. "Heh heh. Looks like Hiccup is going to pay for embarrassing me like that in school" he told himself with a devious; yet strangely accomplished smile.

Meanwhile…

On their way to the Grove, Hiccup and Astrid decided to bring the stray dog to the farm as it needed treatment for its injured leg. Hiccup tried as best he could to fix it before he went to deliver the milk, but Astrid knew it wouldn't be enough for him to heal; so she thought about taking the dog to the farm to heal it. Or more specifically: her.

"Are you sure Stoick will let us heal her?" a rather nervous Hiccup asked.

"Yes Hiccup, for the millionth time." Astrid replied, annoyed and rather peeved at his behaviour. "Now Man up and stop being a whuss. As she always hated I when he behaved like a nervous child who was too cautious, she decided to take toothless along with her as a secret. Hiccup didn't realise what she was thinking about at all and wondered what she was planning for him in her daydream state.

Hiccup unlocked the door to the grove and stepped inside, only to immediately be knocked back out again by an excited toothless and stray hound. "Hey Buddy, how you doing?" he asked the too-excited wolf as Astrid snuck past him and took the stray hound out of the other door, which was one way but lead out to the start of the forest path, giving Astrid easy access to the farm path. "C'mon girl, let's go." She softly spoke as she petted the hound's head. "I'm gonna take you back to the farm and we're gonna heal you right up.

Astrid was very excited to heal up her new-found friend. But as she got back to the farm, she found her mother's car outside

"Why is she home now? She shouldn't be home for another 3 days…" she thought aloud. Ever since they moved onto the next-door land, her mother and Stoick had been friends, and Astrid would help Stoick with work and stay with them while her mother was on business trips into the city centre for sometimes weeks, maybe even months on end. This was the reason she loved spending time on the farm with Hiccup and Stoick. When Snotlout moved in when they were seven, Astrid developed an immediate hate for him due to his objectifying of her, and treating her like she was his property, although, she'd loved to punch him for no reason. He took out his rage from her rejections on Hiccup who just so happened to be his cousin. Snotlout was lucky for himself not to be in an orphanage, he often thought about it when he was alone and realised after a while how lucky he was he wasn't killed in "the accident" as he liked to call it whenever it was mentioned.

"Hi sweetie how's my favourite girl?" Astrid's mother said with a delightful tone on her face. "I'm great mom, how are you?" she replied with a slightly more mellow attitude on her face.

"What's wrong dear?" she asked Astrid.

"Mom, can I get a dog?" Astrid tended to just go out and say it rather than thinking things through.

"Sure, and I saw you coming along with a dog anyways, we could do with a dog to herd our sheep since lassie died." She replied without any form of hesitation in her voice.

"Thanks, I'm gonna go heal her wounded leg now!" Astrid spoke with glee, one of the first times in a while where her mother would hear her daughter happy.

"Great, make sure she's ready for herding sheep by Friday please."

"Wait, you're saying for the week?" Astrid confused, and befuddled asked.

"Yes, but this week until Sunday morning, then I have to get going to Brussels on business. The company is trying to extend internationally again."

"That's a shame. I was looking forward to spending the weekend with you." Astrid regretfully admitted, blushing as she told her mother.

"Well it's not like we haven't got any time left. So let's go get some food out eh dear?" she tested seeing if Astrid would like to go out to eat for the time that she was rarely ever here.

"Yeah sure, where should we go then?" she said, as she walked toward the door.

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Rate, Review and Follow, i'll try to get the next three chapters up by a couple weeks maybe a month. cause i'm busy with Education and stuff.

See ya soon guys

~JCThemadman


	8. I'm Sorry

hey guys, Sorry to let you know his on such a short notice, but I'm going to be very busy for quite a while. Education is boring... but in any other sense, i will try my best to get the next chapter of the grove up by maybe Halloween, and then another one as a "Christmas Special". much sorry, very hope. i do hope i can get as much done as possible, but for now, I'm gonna be AFK...

PM me if you want to suggest any ideas, or review as an idea...

yours,

~JCTheMadMan

I'll. Be. Back...


	9. Remembrance

Hey guys, thought I'd make a chapter on remembrance day as a commemoration to the soldiers of WW1

in the chapter i actually put in teh positive influences, negative influences and information that is actually true (except for the names of course)

hope you enjoy, and a salute to those who died in the wars...

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July 1916,

Jonathan "Crackshot" Hofferson, brave soldier fought in the Battle of the Somme. A bloodbath against the British, and on the first day, with more than 30,000 casualties alone, was the most dangerous battle in the course of human history. A great war which took place claimed the lives of not only Jonathan, but his close friend, and old neighbour Hamish "kipper-slapper" Haddock. They fought together in the 15th battalion of the fourth army, commandeered by General Sir Henry Rawlinson, and they fought fiercely until the very end. The men were gassed on their fifth day within the trenches, and they didn't survive. Nobody in those trenches survived the gas, as there wasn't enough time to get them out. Their wives and children were left fatherless, and they grew up knowing their fathers had died for king and country, and were proud of them. Jonathan died at the age of 25, and Hamish died at the age of 23.

11th November 2014

Astrid placed down the book in the war section of the library with tears streaming down her cheeks. Hiccup beside her was near to tears and Snotlout was crying like a little child who'd lost their parents in a supermarket. After finding out how their great- grandparents did in the war, they knew they had to make some kind of tribute to remember them by. As a first, they visited the graves of their great grandparents, who'd happened to be right next to each-other, on the right hand side, in the centre row. Stoick himself was in despair and almost in pieces, before he said "shall we go home and have a feast in their honour?" while Snotlout was on the floor, from fainting. Hiccup and Astrid nodded in agreement, as they pulled Snotlout to his feet and got him to walk with them. The graveyard was busy with many people, young and old, all of whom yearned to pay their respects to the deceased loved ones in their families.

Later that day, as Astrid was laying the table, Stoick was topping off the Turkey, and Snotlout and hiccup were outside finishing the design of an old Viking-style funeral pyre, Astrid's mother drove up to the house. The last time she'd visited was just before the end of the summer, and she heard from Stoick about her grandfather. She wanted to be with Astrid, so she could comfort her, but in truth, she was the one who needed comfort, as her eyes were welling up with tears, and her emotional stability, out the window.

"Stoick?!" she shouted hoping to get a response, but instead noticed Snotlout come out from around the back, looking as if he'd just done a good deed of some kind.

"Hello Dear, you wouldn't mind getting Stoick would you?"

"I can't Uncle S is cooking dinner, and you're just in time, foods all ready." He replied, with a slight tone of depression in his voice.

"Oh, well let's go eat then." She gestured to him as she walked towards the door.

"Hello Stoick, How are you?" she greeted the hulking man who arose from his seat as she entered the room.

"not too bad Helen, what about you-" "oh excuse my manners, please, sit." He gestured to a chair he was pulling out from under the table.

"Thank you Stoick," she said as she sat down "what did you make for dinner?"

"a nice plump roast turkey, with roast potatoes, asparagus, parsnips, and some gravy with rosemary." He said as he brought out the mouth-watering turkey, basted and cooked carefully in juices.

"Wow, that looks Delicious" everyone else exclaimed, having their minds taken right off the depression they had felt only hours prior.

"Well then, Let's Dig in!" Stoick shouted, "but first, can we have a moment of silence for those in ours and those countless other families." He mellowed his voice as he spoke, as if he were truly touched by his grandfather's generation's sacrifice.

As the moment of silence ended, Snotlout was the first to immediately demand for the turkey and moaned of his hunger, but Stoick, being the patient man he was, left him to wait until last for his slice. As they ate, they all talked about the people who they saluted for their military service, and the evening was filled with celebration. Later that night, Stoick called them all out to the pyre, where they burned the pyre at eleven at night, as to show off the flames to the world, celebrating te centenary of the war, and commemorating the soldiers. The others 'oohs' and 'aahs' in co-ordination with the different scents of woods added to the fire, and the fireworks behind which were launched. His carried on until they were all very tired, and as they became droopy and sleepy, they went to their beds, All asleep like logs except for one, troubled, scrawny Fifteen year old boy…

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this will go into the next chapter, but will work slightly differently. just to say, thanks for the review Blue the first, your review really opened my eyes to my schoolboy errors. a virtual cookie to you good Sir or Madam.

Rate, Review, and follow

see you next chapter

Yours, JC


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